Connecticut’s attorney general supported a comprehensive privacy bill, with caveats including on enforcement. The legislature’s Joint Committee on General Law heard testimony on SB-893 at a webcast hearing Thursday. The New England Cable & Telecommunications Association (NECTA) supports the bill, which mirrors Virginia's, as long as no further changes are made, said Davis Wright privacy attorney Nancy Libin.

The $16.25 billion in “enterprise value” of the “premium video entity” AT&T formed Thursday with TPG for the spinoff of 30% of DirecTV is roughly a third of the $48.5 billion AT&T agreed to pay nearly seven years ago to acquire the platform as a “clear and elegant path to Ultra HD” (see 1405200030). “We certainly didn’t expect this outcome when we closed the DirecTV transaction in 2015, but it’s the right decision to move the business forward, consistent with the current realities of the market,” said AT&T CEO John Stankey on a hastily arranged investor call on the transaction.

PC market share leaders Dell and HP insisted on back-to-back quarterly earnings calls Thursday that they’re selling as many notebooks as they can get out the door, and revenue would be higher if not for the component global supply constraints. They expect sustained PC demand momentum at least through this year, and are trying to navigate through the semiconductor shortage by leveraging their scale with suppliers.

Cyber notification requirements are a legislative priority, said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and ranking member John Katko, R-N.Y., Friday during a virtual hearing on the SolarWinds breach. They echoed interest from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, at a hearing earlier in the week (see 2102230064).

Verizon and AT&T face financial questions after they were the top spenders in the C-band auction, analysts said. Verizon dominated at $45.4 billion, almost twice the $23.4 billion bid by AT&T. T-Mobile was third, at $9.3 billion, while cable companies and Dish Network largely sat on the sidelines. The pending 3.45-3.55 GHz auction may have had some effect on bidding, experts said.

The Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports “touched directly a lot of people and have disrupted a lot of people’s lives and livelihoods,” said Katherine Tai, President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. trade representative, at her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Thursday. She was asked how, if confirmed, she would revise USTR's tariff exclusion decisions that critics during the Trump administration called inconsistent and lacking transparency. During the three-hour hearing, she didn’t say whether she favored keeping or eliminating the tariffs themselves.

Best Buy tempered expectations for FY 2022 after reporting a 12.6% year-on-year sales increase in Q4 to $16.9 billion. Comparable sales growth in the quarter ended Feb. 1 was 12.4%, partially offset by loss of revenue from permanent store closures in the past year, it said. Shares fell 9.3% Thursday to close at $102.94.

Provide an open radio access network push for 5G, stopping short of a mandate, NTIA heard at virtual “listening session” Thursday, its second on the topic (see 2101280053). FCC members will vote March 17 on an ORAN notice of inquiry (see 2102240063).

There won’t be legislative announcements from leadership at Thursday’s hearing on tech antitrust, House Antitrust Subcommittee Chair David Cicilline, D-R.I., told us Wednesday. But he expects the conversation to further define specific proposals. Legislative proposals could touch on interoperability, explicit prohibitions on favoring products and services, and nondiscrimination, he said. The hearing focus will be on the power of dominant firms to exclude competitors and favor products and services to make it difficult for entrants to compete, he added.

Combined Xperi-TiVo 2020 revenue grew 21% to $1.15 billion, which “far exceeded” expectations, said Xperi CEO Jon Kirchner on a Wednesday investor call. Q4 revenue was $427.8 million vs. $90.4 million in the 2019 quarter, before the TiVo deal, the company reported.